


Nightmares

by TheBodyBioelectric



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, Fix-It, Fuck the CW, Mind Manipulation, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Sanvers - Freeform, Sanvers Endgame, a balm for 3.07 and 3.05, soft lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 04:54:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12787401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBodyBioelectric/pseuds/TheBodyBioelectric
Summary: I've seen a lot of throwaway suggestions to explain away the Sanvers canonical break up as the characters being mind controlled because of how abrupt and OOC the whole thing was.But what if it wasn't mind control, but something else that could explain it? What if Alex only remembers what was shown in the show, and starts to question her own disjointed memories?AKA the fix it fic where Alex and Maggie get fucked over by the universe and still get back together





	Nightmares

Alex sat straight up in bed, cold sweat soaking the baggy t-shirt she was wearing. Images from her dream, where she was back in that cold warehouse being slowly drowned in a glass cage, flashed before her eyes as she stripped off her damp t-shirt and slowly began to feel the warm, dry bed beneath her and the cool air enter her gasping lungs. Closing her eyes, she took several shuddering breaths as she reached over to Maggie’s side of the bed, only to find cold sheets. 

Rubbing her eyes with her fingers, Alex remembered Maggie moving out in a series of rapid fire images. Letting out a sigh, she had to remind herself that Maggie wasn’t there, even as she felt Maggie’s empty spot on the bed. Flipping over, she reached over to her nightstand and closed her hand around the cool glass of the Jack Daniel’s bottle by her bed, throwing back another slug as she tried to pick out the haze of Maggie’s departure from her life from the haze of her dream of drowning in Malvern’s cage.

Alex hated how when she woke up from her nightmares like this, her break up with Maggie felt as dream-like as her visions of water filling her lungs. It was bizarre to her how something so impactful to her, something she should have been able to recall down to the littlest detail, and she couldn’t even manage pick out what Maggie had said to her, specifically. She remembered packing up boxes, and drinking and crying and having one last amazing love making session, and she certainly remembered the last, “See you around, Danvers.”

But for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what Maggie had said to her after she said she didn’t want kids. Alex picked up her phone for probably the millionth time during these long nights. She shouldn’t call. She was drunk, and clearly not in a positive mental headspace, and it was the middle of the night. There was nothing else to say. Her therapist would have a field day with how she was beating herself up over this, how obsessed she was with this, and she didn’t even know the half of the drinking and angry yelling matches she had with herself in the mirror. 

Her phone stared back at her.

Fuck doing what was right. Healthy and logical and life goal compatibility had only ever caused Alex to get further from those things. She knew Maggie was out of her league in every way from the start, and that ever going after her was always going to require a leap of faith.

Twisting the cap back onto the bottle and throwing it hap hazardously onto the bed, Alex picked up her phone and dialed.

It only rang once.

“The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Please hang up and dial a different number,” a mechanical operator’s voice said. Taking a shuddering breath, Alex put down her phone. 

Maggie had blocked her number.

“See you around, Danvers,” had meant “Get out of my life.”

Alex threw her phone across the room in a flash of anger before she collapsed onto her bed as heaving sobs overtook her.

Alex wondered as she sobbed if Maggie was as alone as she was tonight.

She wasn’t.

Maggie screamed into the darkness as her entire body caught fire again. She had now officially lost track of how many times this had happened. She wasn’t even sure how many days it had been, or if had been days or weeks or months. Finally, the sensation numbed, and Maggie twitched weakly a couple of times in the medical chair she was strapped to as she opened her blurry eyes to the poorly lit room around her.

“Another failure,” A voice she had come to recognize said to no one in particular, a voice she had come to associate with a pain that cut to the very heart of her being. Maggie felt like it wasn’t fair that it wouldn’t sound more intimidating to anyone else, with it’s high, reedy quality that perpetually sounded like a whining teenager. Blinking rapidly, Maggie’s mouth moved before her mind could catch up.

“Sorry about your date,” Maggie said, and the other figure in the room had the gall to laugh. The unfortunately familiar room started to filter in to her vision as she remembered her captor’s name was MaKaSol. Kryptonian. Former science guild.

“Now, detective, you’ve shown a particularly strong resistance to this procedure, and frankly, I couldn’t figure out how. You’re really a singular specimen to hold out from this procedure,” MaKaSol said.

“Maybe your procedure sucks, McAsshole,” Maggie ground out, eyes finally focusing again as MaKaSol’s blandly evil face came back into view.

“Clever. I’ll be the bigger mac about this, though, and let that one slide,” the alien said with a smug smile, actually waiting several seconds for Maggie to laugh, and when she didn’t he continued. “Wordplay aside, I think I’ve finally cracked it.”

“Well don’t keep me in suspense,” Maggie muttered darkly.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” MaKaSol said, turning to push a button as a wall behind him turned on to a screen. Maggie could see Alex, but all the feelings of relief and comfort her image brought were instantly soured in her stomach as the camera zoomed out, showing Alex moaning as someone else, some blonde woman, lay on top of her fiancée, doing the things she thought only she and Alex shared.

“See, it’s your bond to your mate. I wasn’t expecting it, all the reports said that you were always a lone wolf. You even refused a work partner when you were a detective. And Roulette failed to mention you had been living with a partner for the last six months,” MaKaSol said. “So, I thought you would want to know what and who she’s been doing.”

“Screw you and your garbage photoshop skills,” Maggie said.

“Oh, this isn’t manipulated. I had a contact hack into a security camera,” MaKaSol said. “This really happened.”

“Alex wouldn’t cheat on me. She’s looking for me right now,” Maggie said confidently. 

“Oh, but she’s not. You see, you broke up. Tragic, really. Incompatible life goals,” MaKaSol said melodramatically.

“What?” Maggie hissed.

“You see, that’s why no one’s looking for you. All we had to do was convince Alex that you didn’t love her, that you would abandon her at the first inconvenience, and no one would come looking for you. Not when you didn’t show up to work. Not when you didn’t return the frankly pathetic number of calls asking about you,” MaKaSol said. “It was so easy to convince her, too. She always thought you were going to leave. We barely had to construct anything.”

“No,” Maggie said in what she hoped was a firm voice. “Alex knows I love her.”

“Loved. Maybe,” MaKaSol shrugged. “But you were just two different people. And now she’s moved on. If it makes you feel better, she’s grateful that you helped her find herself,” MaKaSol said. “Now she can sample around with a much better understanding of her tastes.”

“You’re disgusting,” Maggie growled as MaKaSol laughed.

“Interesting word choice, given that many of your own people would call your kind the same,” MaKaSol said. “But I guess a leopard can always see another’s spots. Shall we begin again?”

Maggie’s world cut off to darkness once again as pain ripped through her body. Maggie let out a gut-wrenching scream as images of Alex writhing in bed with other women danced before her head tauntingly.

The next morning, Alex awoke with a splitting headache.

It had become almost a ritual for her. The alcohol getting her to her bed and dealing with her hangover the only thing motivating her to ever get out of it. Checking her phone from where she had thrown it across the room, she saw that she would have to rush her morning routine to get to work on time. Rolling out of bed, she winced as she saw the sunlight spilling through the cracks in her blinds, like a physical embodiment of the painful reality lancing through her. 

If only Maggie’s departure hadn’t felt like such a fake, bad dream. Maybe she could get over this.

As she shoved her feet into her combat boots, Alex realized that today was day off. Locking her door, Alex remembered that J’onn had forbidden her from coming in to work today, even if there was “a small apocalypse happening.”

Huffing out a breath, Alex decided to try to go to a park and take a walk. It took her about twenty minutes until she wanted to scream and tear her hair out.

Closing her eyes as she sat down bodily on a park bench, Alex called her sister.

“Hey, Alex!” Kara said cheerfully.

“She blocked my number,” Alex mumbled.

“What?” Kara said.

“She blocked my number. Why did she block my number?” Alex asked numbly.

“Alex, are you drunk? It’s like 9 in the morning!” Kara asked in an agitated voice. 

“I just had a rough night, ok?” Alex said defensively as she felt her hackles raise. “You don’t get to dogpile on me after mom already did for this. I’m trying.”

“Alex, I know,” Kara said, letting out a sigh before she asked in a softer tone. “What’s going on?”

“Maggie. She blocked my number. I… tried to call her last night,” Alex said.

“Alex,” Kara said disapprovingly.

“I know! I know, alright, I know I said I wasn’t going to unless I needed to tell her something,” Alex said as her breath hitched. “It’s been a month, Kara. I just woke up and I couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t there for like five minutes. Like I was waking up from a dream, but the dream kept happening.”

“Oh, Alex,” Kara said. “Do you need me to fly over? On the bus?”

Alex let out a small laugh.

“No, no, I’m ok. I guess I just wanted to know if Maggie’s told you anything? Or maybe figure out why she did it?” Alex asked.

“Maggie hasn’t talked to me since she moved,” Kara said quietly. “Are you sure she blocked your number though? Maybe she just got a new phone?”

“Huh. That would- that would make a lot of sense,” Alex said as she swished her Irish coffee in her cup.

“See? I’m great at this reporting thing,” Kara said. “But I really do think we need to talk about this drinking thing-”

Alex hung up and dialed Winn.

“Hey, Alex, I’d love to chat on your day off, when you are not coming in or conducting official DEO business, but my boss is kind of a mind reader so I really shouldn’t get caught slacking off-” Winn said before Alex interrupted him.

“I need Maggie’s cell records,” Alex said.

“Oh, yeah, of course I’ll help you stalk your ex, that’s moving this in a positive direction,” Winn deadpanned.

“Not like seeing who she’s been talking to, just that her phone has been active. I have a box of her stuff I need to return to her but I can’t get through,” Alex said.

“All right, give me a second,” Winn said as Alex heard a clattering of keys. “All right, here we are: 535-555-3908 hasn’t been used in three weeks.”

“So, she did get a new phone. Could you give me her number?” Alex asked. 

“Disregarding the like 20 federal laws that would break, sure,” Winn said. “What’s a few more felonies between friends.”

“Winn, please,” Alex said as she rolled her eyes. “The reason you’re employed is because you broke federal laws.”

“And once again, you make a very persuasive argument,” Winn said as more keys clacked. “Huh.”

“What?” Alex said.

“Maggie didn’t get a new phone,” Winn said. “And she didn’t cancel her old phone number.”

“So what, she just doesn’t use the phone anymore?” Alex asked incredulously.

“I don’t know. Maybe she switched carriers or is using a go phone after she lost her old one,” Winn said unsurely. “Maybe you could drop it at her aunt’s?”

“Yeah. I mean I didn’t want to bother her, but yeah, I guess I’ll have to do that,” Alex said. 

“Wait, you called me to break the law for you first before you just called her aunt?” Winn asked.

“I’ll ask Dave to get a couple extra maple bars in the donut box this week,” Alex said immediately.

“I feel very uncomfortable with how transactional our interactions are getting. Am I not your friend, Alex?” Winn said.

“A half dozen,” Alex said.

“Good luck with Maggie’s aunt,” Winn said and hung up.

Maggie’s Aunt answered on the second ring.

“Hello, Mrs. Sawyer? It’s Alex. Maggie’s- Maggie’s-” Alex said, choking on the ugly compound “ex-fiancée.” 

“I know who you are. Why did you call?” And Alex almost recoils from the frost in the words.

“Maggie left a box of things at my place, and I wanted to get them back to her. I was wondering if you could get them to her if she doesn’t want to talk to me,” Alex said. 

“Is this some kind of joke?” Mrs. Sawyer said. 

“Excuse me?” Alex said.

“Do you really think I know where Maggie is? I haven’t heard from her in a month. Not a text, not a call, for the woman who raised her. And now you, supposedly a trained FBI agent, call me to get a hold of her for you?” Mrs. Sawyer asked.

“She hasn’t called in a month?” Alex asked hesitantly. 

“She’s moping because you broke her heart,” Mrs. Sawyer said icily. “Or are you too clueless to even figure that out?”

“Have you tried calling her?” Alex asked.

“Of course. Her phone was off,” Mrs. Sawyer said. 

“I’ll drop it off in person, I’m very sorry for calling you,” Alex said, pulling up a ride sharing app.

Fifteen minutes later, Alex was slipping into Maggie’s building behind a pizza delivery man. Walking up to Maggie’s door, Alex frowned as she pulled down a notice from the landlord for late rent. Sniffing at the door, her stomach roiled at the disgusting smell of decay coming from under the door, her hand flying to her mouth as she held back her urge to retch.

Panic overtook her mind as she put together why a probably depressed Maggie might not be communicating with anyone or paying her rent and why a hideous smell would be coming from her apartment.

Every thought went out of her mind as she thought of Maggie hurting herself.

Stepping back, Alex slammed her boot through the door, knocking it backwards as the door-jam ripped out of the frame. Shoving open the broken door, Alex ran past the scores of dead bonsai trees towards the almost gagging smell coming from the kitchen. Looking on the counter, Alex saw a pot filled with what must have once been food on the stove with mold almost spilling out of it. Looking to the sink, Alex saw a pile of dishes that also had an uncomfortable amount of life springing from it.

Holding her nose, Alex quickly searched the rest of the apartment. She didn’t find a body, and Alex sighed with relief before she remembered the horrible stench that was coming from the kitchen. Beating a hasty retreat to the hallway, she tried to make sense of what she had just seen. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Winn again.

“Hey, Alex, what crime do you need me to commit today?” Winn said.

“I need Maggie’s credit card activity, traffic cams, something from the last month. I’m calling her precinct after this,” Alex said as she got into her lyft.

“Jesus, Alex,” Winn said. “I am not helping you actually stalk your ex.”

“Look, this one is official. I’m coming in,” Alex said. “I think something happened.”

“Yeah, you broke up is what happened. Maggie left. Look, I didn’t want to bring this up, but Kara said that you’ve been drinking-” Winn said in a hushed voice.

“This is not some fantasy I have!” Alex said angrily. “Maggie’s aunt hasn’t heard from her in a month. Her apartment looks like no one’s been there in weeks at least. Her bonsai trees, god, I never thought I would feel so bad for those space eating plants, but-“

“What do you mean her apartment?” Winn said. “Alex, did you flash your badge to get in to Maggie’s apartment? Because that breaks like, ten rules right there-“

“I kicked down the door,” Alex said.

“Oh, just a little B and E then. That’s fine,” Winn said in an exasperated tone.

“Listen, I’m worried about her, Winn. This isn’t normal,” Alex said.

“What, like she just broke up with her fiancée? Like maybe she went a little crazy and decided to run off? I mean, Alex, look at how you’re reacting, and you have a whole support system around you,” Winn said.

“Oh, how am I reacting Winn?” Alex said as a dangerous smile crept across her face.

“Uh, in a perfectly understandable and eminently relatable way to a very stressful situation that might be causing you to act the teensiest bit irrational?” Winn said.

“Just get her bank records, Winn. If she’s in Timbuktu doing a walkabout I’ll back off, but this is way too many things to be a coincidence,” Alex said. “I’ll be there in ten.”

Alex walked into the DEO to find a glowering J’onn with his hands folded neatly over his chest.

“I believe I banned you from this building today, Agent Danvers,” J’onn said. 

“No, you banned me from doing DEO work. I was doing a private investigation and I happen to have found myself in over my head,” Alex said.

“Alex, step into my office before you embarrass yourself further,” J’onn growled. Alex noticed Winn in the background trying to slump behind his computer tower. 

“One, finger, Winn. One,” Alex said as J’onn herded her into his office.

“Don’t try to drag agent Schott into this further than you already have,” J’onn said as he forcefully closed the door behind him. “Alex, what are you doing?”

“Look, I know you told me not to come in today, and I know I need the rest, but I think that I’m really on to something here,” Alex said. “Maggie hasn’t shown up to her apartment, to work, or even called her aunt in a month. She loves her aunt! I love her aunt!”

“Alex, look at yourself,” J’onn said plaintively. “You haven’t slept well in weeks, you’ve refused to take any meaningful time off to deal with Maggie’s loss, you’re lashing out at the people you care about most and you’re turning into a drunk. Am I leaving something out? Because it sounds like you’re not in your right mind.”

“J’onn, I know how it looks. I haven’t been myself the past few weeks,” Alex said, swallowing the lump in her throat. 

“Alex, I don’t want to have to say it, but you’re falling into all the patterns you were stuck in when we met,” J’onn said, and his expression softened. “It’s ok to ask for help.”

“I only need one thing from you,” Alex said in a small voice.

“Alex, we’ve already talked about that,” J’onn said softly.

“Not that. I know that asking you erase my time with Maggie was a mistake. I wasn’t in my right mind, like you said,” Alex said, barely able to contain her sobs. “But J’onn, there’s something more. There’s more explanation, there’s something wrong here, something wrong with me. Maggie’s the only person that’s ever made me feel at peace. She was my everything. She was forever. And I gave her up for maybe kids? I mean, you’re the telepath, does that sound remotely like me?”

J’onn didn’t answer save for his face to tighten in thought.

“I’m not asking for much. I just need you to scan my memories,” Alex said.

“What would I be looking for?” J’onn asked. 

“I don’t know. A clue? I think something happened to Maggie and I can’t remember it for some reason. I’ve been having memory problems about the conversations leading up to our break up, and I know that’s normal to some degree, but I can’t remember any of it outside of what I told everyone. It’s like it was an actual dream, not something that really happened. There’s just nothing beneath the surface, like if you spread a bunch of dirt on a floor and tried to plant a garden,” Alex said. “And now Maggie’s gone and I can’t help but think they’re linked.”

J’onn sighed defeatedly.

“Let’s wait and see what Winn says. It’ll take at least an hour to run the scan,” J’onn said. “In the meantime, you’re going to sober up and call Kara to apologize.”

“Yes sir,” Alex mumbled. “And thank you.”

“And if this doesn’t pan out? This has to be the last time this happens,” J’onn said seriously.

“Understood,” Alex said sheepishly.

“Good. Now go call your sister. She’s worried about you,” J’onn said as he strode out of his office.

Over two hours of waiting impatiently and several trips to the bathroom later, Alex sat tapping her foot against the ground. 

“Ok, so this is weird,” Winn said.

“Her card doesn’t have any hits on it in the past four weeks,” Winn said. “No withdrawals, no transfers, nothing. The only activity has been the direct deposits from the police department.”

“See? Something is off,” Alex said emphatically. 

“Is there anything that could explain this, agent Schott?” J’onn asked.

“Maggie won the lottery and started a new bank account?” Winn said and both Alex and J’onn gave him a raised eyebrow. “No, geez, no, alright?”

“Alright, Alex. That’s good enough for me,” J’onn said. 

Soon, Alex found herself seated across from J’onn, their hands clasped across the table.

“Ok, just relax your muscles. Good. Now focus on the last conversation you had with Maggie,” J’onn said. Alex did as he said, the last thought she had before feeling J’onn’s strange alien warmth slip inside her mind was to wonder where her fiancée had been taken to.

Maggie screamed into the darkness again before she felt something twist inside of her. Moments later, her head snapped back and she shook violently in the chair she was strapped to. She felt foam slide down the side of her mouth as her muscles convulsed, before they slowly started to relax and the pain ebbed away.

“Ah, so finally. You’ve chosen the sensible thing and given up. The Isun Ra is reading the information back now,” MaKaSol said. “Soon, we’ll know exactly how you captured Roulette, even with your backwater investigative methods. As her boss, that whole business was rather embarrassing, you know. For weeks, I wasn’t MaKaSol the Kryptonian crime lord who built himself out of nothing after leaving his laughably naïve planet, I was the man who let his galactic operation be compromised by a local police force. Once this is done, of course, I’ll be merciful and let you finally get the release I’m sure you’re aching for by now. You deserve that much honor, I suppose.”

“Go to hell,” Maggie spat out as the tremors lessened with each passing moment as she felt a splitting headache growing from the point that strange metal probes from the chair touched her head. MaKaSol laughed. 

“I’d forgotten that you’re backwards religious ideals thought up a place of eternal torture made of fire. I suppose it does feel a little better imagining your soul going to such a nasty place rather than to Rao’s pure light. Either way, the recording will be done in a few minutes, and then you’ll be able to find out for yourself which one is accurate, sentiment aside,” MaKaSol said with a pleasure-less smile. Suddenly, he made a small grunting sound and his expression turned extraordinarily puzzled as he looked down at his chest, Maggie following his gaze.

Sticking out from his sternum was a small glowing tip of green metal and a growing red spot of blood.

“You’re right. It does feel better sending you straight to hell than to Rao’s light,” Alex growled as she slipped the knife out MaKaSol’s lifeless body as he slumped to the floor.

“Alex,” Maggie said, only half believing that the black clad woman in front of her was really there.

“Maggie,” Alex said, her voice breaking as she rushed over to her fiancée and starts ripping off the restraints holding her to the chair. 

“Alex, is that really you?” Maggie asks, and all she can feel is bone deep exhaustion and relief at seeing her Alex worriedly checking her over even as she pulled her towards her in a deep embrace.

“Yes, yes it’s me,” Alex said, tears falling freely from her face as she held Maggie’s face in her hands. Maggie couldn’t think of anything to do other than to pull Alex into a long, deep kiss as she remembered the taste and feeling of Alex’s mouth on hers.

“Alex, how are you here?” Maggie asked as Alex broke the kiss to help her up onto her feet.

“We found you using the fortress of Solitude’s long-range scanners. You were still in the solar system. You’re on Fort Rozz,” Alex said.

“Didn’t Kara throw that into space?” Maggie asked.

“Congratulations, Sawyer, you’re officially an astronaut,” Alex said with a smile. “Are you ok to travel?”

“Yeah, I just need to get my bearings. That chair… fuck that chair.”

“Kara told me about what it does. Apparently, I got strapped into it before you did, but I don’t remember. It’s why it took me so long to find you,” Alex said as she helped Maggie walk past the corpse of MakaSol. Suddenly a white-hot fury burned through Maggie. 

“I knew it was a lie! It. Was. A. Lie!” Maggie screamed as her foot came down on MaKaSol’s face with each word before she collapsed into her fiancée’s arms. 

“Maggie, what was a lie?” Alex asked softly.

“He said you weren’t looking for me. That would never find me. That you moved on, that you were just using me as some kind of stepping stone,” Maggie said between hitching breaths as she closed her eyes. “He made me watch and feel and smell you with other women over and over and over again.”

“Maggie, I’m so sorry,” Alex said as she pulled her fiancée closer to her and tucked her under chin. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I knew you would never stop looking for me, Danvers. I knew you would never give up on me,” Maggie said quietly.

“Maggie. Stop,” Alex hitched out, unable to form words.

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Maggie asked in concern as she looked up into her savior’s eyes that were brimming with tears.

“I did give up. I thought I lost you, that you left and I just let you go,” Alex said as her tears spilled over. “I wasn’t faithful, I was wallowing in self-pity and you were stuck on here being tortured and I didn’t even try until a couple of days ago. If J’onn hadn’t uncovered my memories I never would have found you.”

“Do you not want me back?” Maggie asked in a small voice.

“What?” Alex said through her tears. “Of course I want you back, why would you want me back?”

“Because I love you,” Maggie said, tears spilling down her own face as she pressed a fierce kiss to Alex’s lips. Alex kissed her back with equal intensity as they both shuddered in each other’s arms. Breaking the kiss, Maggie looked into Alex’s eyes.

“I want you, Alex Danvers. I’ll always want you,” Maggie said, smiling through her tears.

“And I want you, Maggie sawyer. Forever,” Alex said, matching Maggie’s smile.

The metal walls creaked ominously as the station shifted, interrupting their tender moment.

“I think that’s a sign that it’s time to get out here,” Alex said, glancing around them. Taking Maggie’s hand, she took off at a brisk pace down the empty hallway.

“Agreed,” Maggie said before she was struck dumb by the view as they rounded a corner and came upon the full view of the night sky through the transparent forcefield of the docking shield.

“I hope you like it, you’re going to be seeing it for a while,” Alex said as she rushed the both of them to a waiting Kryptonian pod. “Shit.”

“What?” Maggie asked in worry.

“I beamed on, but the only way off is MaKaSol’s ship. But there’s only one seat,” Alex said with a frown.

“So one of us has to stay behind?” Maggie asked, already steeling herself to get Alex into the pod without her.

“Oh, no, you can cram two people into these pods. It’s just not very comfortable. And It’s a three-week trip back without a working FTL catapult,” Alex said.

“Are we peddling?” Maggie asked as she climbed in, followed by Alex, who awkwardly fit herself between Maggie’s legs like some kind of bobsled as she pulled the cockpit over their heads, which pushed Alex’s torso firmly against Maggie’s and put her face uncomfortably close to the cockpit window.

“Space is big. We’re still averaging 50 thousand miles an hour at this speed,” Alex said as she punched in their course, making sure to read the Kryptonese carefully to avoid hurling them into the sun.

“Wow,” Maggie said. “I’ll let you do the flying, then.”

“Well, that was pretty much it,” Alex said, pushing a button and leaning back into Maggie’s familiar warmth as there pod slowly accelerated towards the forcefield before hurtling through it into space. “These things mostly drive themselves.”

“We don’t need to like, check into mission control?” Maggie said as she wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist.

“Kryptonians use subspace transmitters, not radios. Which unless something has changed in the past few hours, haven’t been invented yet,” Alex said, as she took Maggie’s hand in hers. “Besides, this computer is hundreds of times more advanced than anything on earth anyway.”

“So we just… sit here for three weeks?” Maggie asked. 

“According to Kara, these pods are 100 percent self-sustaining, so food and water shouldn’t be an issue. But mostly, yes,” Alex said as she felt herself relax into Maggie’s gentle caresses. 

“I guess we have some time to talk then,” Maggie said even as exhaustion crept into her voice.

“Yes. Sleep first, though,” Alex said authoritatively as she kissed Maggie’s hand.

“Not gonna get an argument out of me, Danvers,” Maggie said as she tucked her chin into the crook of Alex’s neck and cuddled into her fiancée’s warm body.

“Alex?” Maggie said sleepily as the exhaustion of the past month caught up to her all at once as soon as Alex said the word sleep.

“Yeah babe?” Alex said.

“You’re gonna be the most badass wife,” Maggie murmured.

“Pretty sure that’s you,” Alex said, seconds before she heard the first of Maggie’s soft snores in her ear.

Smiling to herself, Alex let her fiancée sleep while she held her hand.

Three long, cramped weeks in space, and finally their pod was just setting down in a field just outside of National City as a blue and red streak came flying towards them.

“Oh my God, Alex, Maggie, you’re back!” Kara said as the cockpit raised, before she swooped in and picker her sister up in a hug. Kara froze with a look of horror on her face as several loud popping sounds emanated from Alex’s back as she winced in pain.

“Oh my god, Alex, I’m so sorry, I was just excited, did I break your spine? Should I put you down?” Kara asked in panic as Alex laughed.

“Kara I’m fine, you just popped by back. Apparently traveling in a single seat pod with two people for a long period of time is not what those pods were designed for,” Alex said with a laugh.

“I’ll say,” Maggie said grumpily as she stood up creakily and bent backwards, also creating a worrying series of pops. “I had dreams of doing yoga up there, little Danvers. It was bad.”

“Maggie! You’re back!” Kara said happily before her face turned somber. “I’m so sorry no one noticed you were gone earlier. We weren’t exactly great friends.”

Maggie shook her head.

“Alex told me what happened. It makes sense,” Maggie said.

“I still feel like we should have done more. All that time…” Kara said.

“Well, I’ll never say no to being owed a favor by the strongest person on Earth,” Maggie said with a grin as she jumped down from the pod. “Now, pardon me, Little Danvers, but I’ve been in a pod for three weeks next to my fiancée and unable to do this.”

Maggie pulled Alex into a deep, passionate kiss, her thumb drawing circles on Alex’s cheek and her other hand pulled Alex’s waist next to hers. Alex hungrily reciprocated, pulling Maggie backwards until her back collided with the side of the ship. After deepening the kiss, both women finally remembered Kara was still standing there. 

“Kara, can take your fingers out of your ears now,” Alex said.

“Oh, thank god,” Kara said as she turned around. “I was not expecting that much tongue that loudly.”

“Well I wasn’t expecting to live off grey mush for a month, but we don’t always get what we want,” Alex said as they saw DEO trucks rumble towards them in the distance.

“Was that a jab at Kryptonian food? Because it might have a bit subtler set of flavors than earth food, but I grew up on that food,” Kara said.

“And how often have you ever eaten it again?” Alex asked with her arms crossed. Kara bobbed her head like she was counting.

“Well, it’s just a lot of work to prepare without any advanced kitchenware, that’s all,” Kara said defensively. 

“Mhm,” Alex said as J’onn and the rest of the DEO trucks pulled up to the landing site. 

“Alex, Maggie, it’s good to see that you both made it back,” J’onn said, cracking a rare smile.

“It’s good to be back,” Maggie said with a smile as she held Alex’s hand. “Really good.”

“We’ll let you get resettled into Alex’s apartment as soon as possible then and let you sort out the details,” J’onn said. “I’m glad you’re back together. You’re good for each other.”

“My captain knows where I was?” Maggie asked and J’onn nodded. 

“Everything’s been taken care of,” J’onn said. “We even saved as many of your Bonsai trees as we could.”

“I understand,” Maggie said solemnly as she thought about her poor neglected plants. “I guess I have some moving boxes to see too.”

“I think you do, detective,” Alex said with a smile as she held Maggie in a gooey stare. 

“Awww,” Winn said in the background.

Alex and Maggie’s loud protestations at Winn let any remaining tension out of the air. 

Maggie knew that she had a long road ahead of her, her and Alex both. They had had a lot of time to talk up in space, to explain to each other what had happened, and nowhere to run off to and hide from their feelings.

Maggie knew that this wasn’t going to just end neatly. She saw how Alex had changed after her ordeal, knew that it would probably happen to her as well. And it did sting knowing Alex had been with others, but that sting was eclipsed by how much she hurt for her fiancée’s hurt, by how completely Alex had imploded when she thought Maggie had left her. She could live with the changes that were going to happen, good and bad, with Alex at her side, with Alex holding her when she felt weak, with the strength Alex gave her burning inside of her. Because Maggie had finally found the place she had been looking for half her life as she looked around at the small circle of people.

Maggie was home.


End file.
